Image: WWE

The advertising of Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair led to Monday’s Legends Night edition of Raw drawing the show’s best audience since March with 2.13 million viewers. It was the first time Raw has been over two million viewers since August 24, before the start of the NFL season.

Some of this was also the lack of NFL competition, but historically Hogan and Flair always draw big, particularly in the key demos and not with older fans, as Raw did a 0.68 in 18-49, up 31 percent from last week while total viewers were up 20 percent, meaning the audience average age dropped considerably from normal.

The viewers also stayed for all three hours which is unusual for Raw, and males 18-49 peaked strongly in hour three, so whether that was wanting to see more legend cameos or the Drew McIntyre vs. Keith Lee main event is hard to say.

But from hour one to hour three, women 18-49 dropped 20 percent, more than usual, but men increased eight percent, which is almost unheard of. Teenage girls dropped 18 percent and teenage boys increased 22 percent. Historically Hogan and Flair have always drawn teenage boys better than almost anyone, both for returns in recent years, as well as in the Monday Night Wars era when they were in their mid and late 40s. It bucks conventional logic but history always shows this to be the case. They have far less effect in driving the older audience.

Raw was first on cable in 18-49 by a wide margin, with Below Deck second at a 0.53. Raw was first in males 18-49 and second in women 18-49. It was first in 18-34. It tied for first in women 12-34 and was first by a wide margin in men 12-34. In overall viewership, Raw finished 19th, trailing 18 news shows.

As compared to the same week last year, Raw was still down, but not as much as usual. It was down 11 percent in viewers, 14 percent in 18-49, and 20 percent in 18-34.

This number doesn’t show much nor was it a surprise, and isn’t indicative of anything, like last week’s AEW number, and the past three weeks of SmackDown due to unique circumstances. To gauge where Raw is without football competition, it will be the show in two weeks that gives what should be the level for the next few months.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.20 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.15 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.04 million viewers